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Today is the Feast of All Saints. It’s a day when we remember the hundreds of saints who don’t have their own feast day. But our non-Catholic friends might ask us, “Why do Catholics pray to the saints. Only God can answer prayers.”

True enough. Only God can answer our prayers. The fact is that we don’t pray to the saints. We ask the saints to pray for us. The “litany of the saints” that we say on special occasions concludes with the words “pray for us.” No Catholic, at least no Catholic who understand his or her faith, ever prays to a saint.

So, what’s the deal? First of all, we believe that the saints are in heaven. They are in God’s presence. Second, we believe that saints have a special connection to us either through our location, through our occupation, through our station in life, or in some other way. When Catholics are confirmed, we take the name of a saint. In my case, it’s Saint Patrick. When I pray, I ask Patrick to pray for me. Since I’ve adopted him as my personal patron, I believe that he will intercede for me. I think of him as a friend who lives in heaven.

Periodically the Church will canonize a new saint. It’s important to remember that the Church isn’t making that person a saint. She’s just recognizing the person’s holiness. Bernadette didn’t become a saint because Pope Pius said so. All he did was recognize Bernadette’s holy life and add her to the list.

The Church has designated certain saints as patrons of vocations and occupations. Saint Stephen, the first deacon, is the patron of deacons, along with Saint Lawrence, and Saint Francis of Assissi. All three were deacons. According to saints.sqpn.com, there are 23 saints who were deacons, and that doesn’t include the three that I’ve listed.

Maybe you, or someone you love has cancer. Saints.sqpn.com lists six patrons saints for you to choose from. On his feast day, February 3, we pray to Saint Blaise, patron of diseases of the throat. Here’s a good example of praying through a saint. When the congregation present themselves for the blessing, the deacon or priest lays crossed candles around the neck and prays,”Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may you be free from all diseases of the throat and every other illness.” The key word here is “intercession”. We’re not praying to Saint Blaise. We’re asking him to pray for us.

Maybe you’re a nurse. You have eight patrons. Soldiers, you have sixteen. Even lawyers have eleven patron saints. The list goes on and on. The bottom line is that none of these folks can answer your prayers, but they can put in a good word for you.

Many of our protestant brothers and sisters think it’s scandalous that we try to sneak up on God through this spiritual back door. But the same people will ask you or me to pray for them.

When I had my brain surgery in March, the members of my son’s Baptist church in Alabama prayed for me. It’s the same thing. Remember the parable of the persistent widow? She kept coming back over and over again until the judge relented. Likewise, I can ask God to bless my ministry. Or, I can flood heaven with prayers from my patron saints, my friends, and my family. This takes nothing from God. It just moves the process along. I can ask for something 100 times, or I can ask ten people (living and dead) to pray for me ten times. The result is the same.

Of course, only God answers prayers. To think otherwise is not Christian. But if you have friends who have His ear, it doesn’t hurt if they put in a good word for you.